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Norway are following in the footsteps of their southern Scandinavian neighbor, Denmark.

Norway became the second Scandinavian country in a week to announce limits on funding anti-Israel non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Monday, following in the footsteps of southern neighbor Denmark.

“Boycott creates distance, while the Norwegian government believes in dialogue and cooperation to create mutual trust as part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said a Norwegian government statement.

“This decision is another expression of the Norwegian government’s consistent opposition to boycotts against the State of Israel.”

The Norwegian announcement reflects the country’s 2018 governmental policy that refuses to support organizations promoting boycotts of Israel.

On Friday, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen announced that Copenhagen will cut back on support for Palestinian NGOs and introduce “rigorous” monitoring of the destination of Danish funds.

“Denmark supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and I am sure it will strengthen the work that we will focus on Danish assistance in the future, so we are absolutely sure that the money is being used for the right purposes,” said Samuelsen.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan praised the Norwegian announcement, describing it as a “further, critical step in damaging the pro-boycott organizations” and added that his ministry will continue to act to expose European funding of Palestinian organizations that delegitimize the State of Israel.

“The Domino effect continues… Norway won’t be the last,” Erdan wrote on Twitter.

According to Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, a large portion of European aid granted to Palestinian NGOs is distributed through the Norwegian Refugee Council. Norway and Sweden are described as the most transparent European countries.

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statistics reveal that Norway distributed over $68m. of development aid to Palestinian groups in 2016.

On August 21, 2017, the Swiss Government confirmed that the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (the Secretariat) – a joint funding mechanism of the governments of Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands – is suspending funding to the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee(WATC). SonntagsZeitung, the Swiss weekly which broke the story, has noted that the countries are launching an investigation into funding to the organization. WATC received $530,000 in core funding from 2014-2016.

The decision follows WATC’s role in inaugurating a women’s center in named after Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist who murdered 38 Israeli civilians in a 1978 terror attack. Denmark subsequently demanded WATC return Danish funds and froze funding to the Secretariat, pending review. The Netherlands also suspended cooperation with WATC until further notice.

The decision to halt Secretariat funding comes on the heels of a Swiss June 2017 resolution, passed by the Swiss Council of States, which directs the government to “amend the laws, ordinances and regulations” to prevent funding to NGOs “involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions.”

NGO Monitor notes that the Secretariat is a primary funder of NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Secretariat supports over 40 Israeli and Palestinian NGOs, including groups that have glorified terrorism, have alleged links to EU-designated terror groups, promote anti-Semitism, and/or are active in anti-peace BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) and lawfare campaigns against Israel.

Deutsch added, “The Secretariat’s review of funding to WATC marks a dramatic and positive change in European policy. We note a greater awareness of the necessity to scrutinize and evaluate the activities of grantees, and hope to see a thorough review of other organizations as well.”

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